A traffic police inspector from Kherson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for working for Russia

A court found a former tax inspector from Kherson guilty of collaboration. According to the court, during the occupation of the city, she voluntarily began working for the illegally established Russian “tax service.”

The verdict was handed down by the Uzhhorod City and District Court.

The woman was tried in absentia because she is in hiding in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region.

The court established that no later than July 22, 2022, the defendant voluntarily assumed the position of “tax inspector for the Kherson region” in the so-called “Federal Tax Service Directorate for the Kherson Region,” which was established by the occupying authorities after the seizure of Kherson.

According to the case file, her duties included conducting on-site tax audits, analyzing their results, and imposing financial sanctions on business owners.

During the trial, the court examined documents from the occupying administration, materials from the defendant’s personal file, and testimony from several witnesses. They confirmed that the woman worked for the occupying authority voluntarily and that there was no coercion on the part of representatives of the Russian Federation.

The court also took into account information from law enforcement agencies and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to which the defendant remained in the temporarily occupied territory after the de-occupation of Kherson, currently resides in Skadovsk, and has no intention of returning to territory controlled by Ukraine.

The court found her guilty under Part 7 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—voluntarily holding a position in an illegal law enforcement agency established in the temporarily occupied territory.

She was sentenced to:

• 15 years of imprisonment;
• confiscation of all personal property;
• a 12-year ban on holding positions related to organizational, managerial, administrative, and economic functions in government bodies, institutions, enterprises, and organizations.

The prison term will begin from the moment of her actual detention.

According to “IRS-South,” the convicted woman is Viktoria Kovpey. Witnesses testified in court that during the occupation of Kherson, Kovpey commuted to work in the city from the left bank of the Kherson region. 

Additionally, according to the publication, members of Viktoria Kovpey’s family may also be involved in collaborating with the occupying authorities. Specifically, her sister and her sister’s husband work in Russian-established law enforcement agencies in the temporarily occupied territory.

Furthermore, during the occupation, Kovpey married a man who holds a position in one of the occupation administrations of the Velyka Lepetykha community.

Ірина Глухова